Three and a half years ago the World Health Organization (WHO) declared COVID had become a public health emergency.

Six weeks later, it grew into a pandemic — from which many of us are still recovering…

However, the WHO recently announced that COVID-19 no longer qualifies as a global emergency.

This is good news.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

Apparently deaths from COVID are at their lowest point since the early days of the coronavirus outbreak.

This is also good news.

However, a lot of people are still continuing to die here in our Not-So-United States of America.

Last night I ordered a pizza and salad from a nearby restaurant, and after I picked it up, a woman waiting outside congratulated me on wearing a face mask.

She, too, was wearing a mask and told me in no uncertain terms that our COVID challenges are not over yet.

In fact, the 40-year-old son of one of her friends had just died from COVID.

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

In 2023, the USA COVID death toll has averaged 150 people per day

Although this is a decline from a peak death toll of 2,500 human beings per day in early 2022, 150 per day still feels like a lot of people dying to me!

And all around the world, people continue to die — one every three minutes — “and that’s just the deaths we know about,” says WHO director general Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus. “COVID-19 is (not) over as a global health threat.”

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

I wrote the song in the player at the beginning of this blog post during the first year of the pandemic.

I was inspired — in part — by the months-long hospitalization of a fellow singer who was on a ventilator for a very, very long time.

Amazingly enough he has managed to recover — and resume singing!

He was cared for by a team of truly courageous nurses, doctors, and support staff who came to work day-in and day-out while most of us were sheltering in place at home.

I bore witness to the dedication and patience of many nurses, doctors and support staff during this time because — exactly as COVID was entering our lives — I was diagnosed with an obscure medical condition called PGNMID.

As the COVID epidemic grew worse and worse, I met with specialists at several hospitals, underwent kidney and bone marrow biopsies. and ended up being given three rounds of six-month-long-treatments — chemotherapy+immunotherapy+steroids the first time, a new immunotherapy drug the second time, and an even newer experimental immunotherapy drug the third time.

I appear to be responding well to the latest round of treatments — and may write more about this experience in a future blog post.

I mention it now because I saw firsthand — on a weekly basis — the brave and loving response of the medical community during that horrible time.

Recently another musical acquaintance shared with me that she stopped working as a nurse a year ago so that she could begin to recover from the stress and trauma of being a nurse during the COVID pandemic.

I know she is not alone…

Another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

It’s easy to forget — or ignore — the reality that most of the people who have died due to COVID were connected to a web of caregivers, family and friends who are now grieving their loss.

Deep sigh…

Millions of human beings around our planet — myself included — are now struggling to regain their hopefulness, their sense of connectedness with others, their equilibrium, their sense of purpose, and their mental health after being in survival mode for the past few years.

And some folks are also struggling with mysterious, lingering health challenges after being infected with COVID.

A recent interview on Fresh Air with a neuropsychologist named James Jackson reminded me that there are millions of people here on planet earth who continue to experience a wide variety of debilitating symptoms due to their COVID infection — the “long-haulers.”

As the Fresh Air webpage explains, these folks “struggle to remember things, perform basic tasks and solve problems” — which can lead “to a loss of employment, income, and important relationships.”

Yet another deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Jackson has written a book called Clearing The Fog — From Surviving to Thriving with Long COVID.

I am rooting for all of the COVID long haulers!

I have so many thoughts and feelings about COVID — as I am sure you do, too.

Maybe you will be moved to share a little of what you are feeling and thinking these days about the impact of COVID on our lives in a comment at the end of this blog post.

Part of me was tempted when writing this blog post to share a list of the high-profile folks — such as former presidential candidate Herman Cain — who downplayed or actively denied the significance of the COVID virus… and then ended up dying from it.

However, that seemed too disrespectful and schadenfreudey.

I did stumble across an interview earlier this year with a former Republican senator from Oklahoma — Jim Inhofe — in the Tulsa World, in which he explains that one of the reasons he retired was long-term COVID-19 complications.

At the time of his retirement, he said that he had tested positive for “a very mild case” of COVID-19.

But in this interview he admits that it has been much more serious.

And according to Inhofe, “Five or six others have (long COVID), but I’m the only one who admits it.” 

Yikes!

I think he is referring to other US senators… but maybe he means members of Congress overall?

He also says: “I try to be careful, but I have to be reminded to do things like wash my hands. I have to do things I’m not used to and that’s difficult sometimes.”

I agree.

It can be VERY difficult for us to change our longtime habits and mindsets and patterns of behavior.

Apparently Inhofe has also been an outspoken climate science denier for decades — and we shall see how that ends up affecting him…and his family…and his former constituents…and all of the rest of the web of life here on planet earth in the upcoming days and weeks and months and years!

I think it’s been pretty hot in Oklahoma in recent weeks…

One final deep breath in.

And deep breath out.

Thank YOU for reading and listening to another one of my blog posts.

I am always surprised and heartened to check my WordPress stats and see that people continue to visit my blog even when I haven’t posted anything new in many weeks.

Thank you to all of my visitors!

And thank you to Pixabay for their wonderful and generous photographers.

And thank you to Doug Hammer for playing his Schimmel grand piano so poignantly AND for helping me to mix/master “Waltzing With COVID-19” via many Zoom sessions during the past two years.

If you are curious to hear more music, you can find me singing — with Doug Hammer playing piano — on Spotify, Pandora, Apple Music, YouTube and other streaming platforms.

And you can listen to “Waltzing With COVID-19” on your favorite streaming platform by clicking here.

Any song you “like” or “heart” or add to a playlist will improve the algorithmic activity of my music there!

I am going to continue to wear a mask whenever I am inside a movie theater or a bus or a subway or a friend’s car (if the windows are rolled up) or a friend’s home or an office or a hospital or a retirement community.

This is a simple way we can continue to respect and care for each other.

One more deep breath in.

And deep breath out.